iv

PERMEABILITY AND SELECTIVITY STUDY OF POLYETHERSULFONE

MEMBRANE FOR GAS SEPARATION

NORSHAHIRA BINTI MOHD NOR

A thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree

of Bachelor of Chemical Engineering (Gas Technology)

Faculty of Chemical & Natural Resources Engineering

Universiti Malaysia Pahang

APRIL 2010

viii

ABSTRACT

The objective of this study is to develop and study the effect of polymer

concentration and coating treatment on the membrane performance. The asymmetric

polyethersulfone membranes were prepared through a dry/wet phase inversion

process. The casting solution developed in this research consisted of

polyethersulfone pellet, 1-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP) and methanol. There are three

different membrane composition was prepared. The composition is 18 wt%, 23 wt%

and 28 wt% of PES was used for permeability test PES membrane was divided into

two categories: uncoated and coated with bromine solution. Casting process was

done by using manual casting knife. Permeation test was carried out by testing CO2

and CH4 permeating through the membrane to check the permeability and selectivity

of respective gas to CH4. Different coating agent gave different rate of permeate

while higher polymer concentration enhance the permeation rate. The PES

membrane uncoated showed the higher selectivity compare to coat with bromine

solution. The selectivity of CO2/CH4 was approximately 2.06 at 23% of PES

concentration uncoated with bromine. It was believed that different concentration

strongly affects the membrane performance.

ix

ABSTRAK

Objektif kajian ini dilakukan adalah untuk membangunkan dan untuk

mengkaji kesan kepekatan larutan dan kesan salutan terhadap pencapaian membran.

PolyIetersulfona (PES) membran yang tidak simetri telah disediakan menggunakan

teknik proses yang ringkas iaitu fasa balikan basah/kering.larutan bahan teracuan

yang disediakan untuk kajian ini mengandungi PES, 1-methyl-2-pyrolidone (NMP)

dan methanol.Komposisi membrane 18 wt%, 23wt% dan 28wt% digunakan untuk

ujian ketelapan. Membrane PES dibahagikan kepada dua kategori , tanpa salutan

dan dengan salutan bromin. Proses tebaran dilakukan menggunakan pisau tebaran

manual. Ujian ketelapan telah dijalankan dengan menguji gas CO2 dan CH4 ke atas

membran untuk melihat ketelapan dan pemilihan bagi setiap gas terhadap CH4. Agen

salutan berbeza memberikan nilai ketelapan yang berbeza manakala lebih tinggi

kepekatan polimer meningkatkan kadar ketelapan. Membran PES tanpa salutan

menunjukkan kadar pemilihan yang tinggi berbanding dengan membran PES dengan

salutan larutan bromine. Oleh itu pemilihan bagi CO2/CH4 adalah 2.06 pada 23 wt%

bagi kepekatan PES tanpa salutan. Maka agen salutan di percayai mempengaruhi

prestasi membran dan begitu juga kepekatan polimer

x

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENT x

LIST OF TABLES xiii

LIST OF FIGURES xiv

LIST OF SYMBOLS xv

LIST OF APPENDICES xvi

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of Study 1

1.2 Problem Statement 3

1.3 Objectives of Study 4

1.4 Scope of Study 4

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of membrane based separation 5

2.2 Membrane Definition 7

2.3 Membrane module 8

xi

2.3.1 Spiral Wound Module 8

2.3.2 Tubular module 9

2.3.3 Hollow Fiber Module 9

2.3.4 Plate and Frame Module 10

2.4 Membrane structure 11

2.4.1 Symmetric Membrane 11

2.4.1.1 Porous membrane 12

2.4.1.2 Non-Porous Membrane 12

2.4.2 Asymmetric Membrane 12

2.5 Types of Membrane

2.5.1 Polymeric membranes 14

2.5.2 Inorganic membrane 16

2.5.4 Carbon Membrane 18

2.5.5 Alumina Membrane 18

2.5.6 Silica Membrane 19

2.5.7 Zeolite membrane 19

2.6 Advantages of Membrane Technologies 21

2.7 Membrane Separation Processes 22

2.7.1 Gas Separation Using Membrane 22

2.8 Membrane Formation 24

2.8.1 The mechanism of membrane 25

formation by phase inversion

separation.

2.9 Research Done by Other Researcher 27

xii

3 METHODOLOGY

3.1 Material Selection

3.1.1 Polyethersulfone (PES) 28

3.1.2 N-Methyl-2-pyrrolidone (NMP) 29

3.1.3 Methanol 29

3.1.4 Bromine 30

3.2 Research Design 30

3.3 Membrane preparation 31

3.3.1 Dope Solution Preparatiom 31

3.3.2 Membrane Casting 31

3.3.3 Membrane Coating 32

3.3.4 Gas Permeation Test 32

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

4.1 Effect of polymer concentration 33

on permeability and selectivity

4.2 Effect of coating agent on membrane 34

Performance

5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

5.1 Conclusion 36

5.2 Recommendation 37

REFERENCES

APPENDICES

xiii

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE NO TITTLE PAGE

2.1 Milestone in the development of membrane based separation 6

2.2 Performance of polymeric membranes separating CO2/N2 15

2.3 Summary of research done by other researcher 27

3.1 Physical properties of polyethersulfone 29

3.2 Physical properties of methanol 29

4.1 Composition of casting solution with different 33

polymer concentration

4.2 Summary of average value of separation 34

properties of uncoated and coated membrane

at different polymer concentration.

xiv

LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO TITTLE PAGE

2.1 Structure of spiral wound membrane module 8

2.2 Structure of tubular module 9

2.3 Structure of hollow fiber module 10

2.4 Early plate-and-frame designs developed for the 11

separation of helium from natural gas

2.5 Asymmetric membrane structure 13

2.6 Typical types of membrane structure 13

2.7 Examples of polymer molecular structures 16

used for CO2 separation

2.8 Transport mechanism through micro porous 17

membranes.

2.9 Gas separation using membrane 23

2.10 Phase Inversion Techniques 24

2.11 Schematic representations of immersion precipitation 26

phase inversion processes: (A) dry, (B) wet,

(C) dry/wet.

3.1 Polyethersulfone (PES) molecular structure. 28

3.2 Flowchart of membrane preparation, characterization 30

and permeation test.

xv

LIST OF ABBREVATIONS

CO2 - Carbon Dioxide

CH4 - Methane

PES - Polyethersulfone

O2 - Oxygen

N2 - Nitrogen

H2 - Hydrogen

Cl - Chlorine

C2 - Carbon

ºC - Degree celcius

P - Permeability

Q - Flow rate

A - Area

∆P - Pressure difference of penetrant across membrane

α - Selectivity

% - Percentage

P - External gas partial pressure

xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDICES TITTLE PAGE

A Preparation of casting solution system 41

(Dope preparation system)

B Sample of dope solution 42

C Manual Casting Knife 43

D Sample of membrane uncoated and coated 44

with bromine

E Gas permeation unit 45

CHAPTER 1

1.1 Introduction

1.1.1 Background of Study

Currently gas separation by selective permeation through polymer membrane

is one of the fastest growing branches of the separation technology. Gas separation

membrane systems have received a lot of attention from both industry and academia.

This is because there is a belief that membrane separation processes in some

application. In order to accomplish this objective, membrane materials with superior

permeability and selectivity and advanced fabrication technologies to yield hollow

fibers with an ultra-thin dense selective layer are the primary focuses for most

membrane scientists in the last two decades.

Most of the membrane expert have been investigating and synthesizing new

polymers that are able to exhibit both higher gas permeability and selectivity since

the past 40 years. Presently the structure, pressure-normalized flux and selectivity of

the membrane polymer have become the focus of the studies among researchers. In

addition they are aiming for defect free ultra thin dense selective layer membrane

material. Significant processes have been made in the membrane materials, dope

preparation, fabrication technology and fundamental understanding of membrane

formation

The selectivity was believed relates to the parameter such as polymer

concentration used which strongly affects the membrane performance (Koros et al

2000). Selectivity of membrane can be represented by the ratio of the permeability of

any two components through the membrane. This specific characteristic of a

membrane were generally varies inversely with gas permeability which means to

2

achieve a high selectivity, it requires the membrane to operate in low permeability

(Scott, 1998).

Based on the previous researchers the limitation of this research was to

achieve high gas permeability without a significant decrease in gas selectivity. In

order to get the high selectivity membrane without reducing the permeability of

membrane, low cost polymer polyethersulfone membrane was sough off. Ideally,

membranes should exhibit high selectivity and high permeability. For most

membranes, however, as selectivity increases, permeability decreases, and vice

versa. That's the trade-off. (Hwang, 1975)

In term of material development, membrane prepare from polyethersulfone

(PES) have been received special attention for gas separation due to some of them

possessing surprisingly high gas selectivity for gas pair O2/N2 and CO2/CH4.

Polyethersulfone also have many other desirable properties, such as spin ability,

thermal and chemical stability and mechanical strength. These properties are

essential to yield a membrane module with stable and predicable long-term

performance (Baker, 2008).

3

1.2 Problem Statement

Today, oil and gas companies were required to remove or substantially

reduce CO2 levels in exhaust streams before they are vented to the atmosphere. Since

CO2 was well known as an acid gas, CO2 should be removed before natural gas can

be distribute to the pipelines. The amount of carbon dioxide should be in small

amount because carbon dioxide when react with water will form carbonic acid which

may corrode the pipeline. In other to meet the quality standards specified by major

pipeline transmission and distribution companies one of the specifications was to

ensure the pipeline free of particulate solids and liquid water. Therefore, CO2 should

be remove or the acid gases because they can lead erosion, corrosion and other

damage that will not follow the standardization. (Surkov et al, 2000)

A simple process technology was highly desirable which can be applied in

remote, unattended or offshore situations. In addition to competitive capital and

operating cost, ease operation, quick start-up, and high on stream factors are needed.

Currently amine absorption was commonly used for CO2 separation process. Amine

absorption was an effective technique to remove CO2, however this technique

complex and have high capital, operating and installation costs. Therefore new

development of separating gas using membrane was developed. However the major

problems confronting the use of the membrane based gas separation processes in a

wide range of applications was the lack of membranes with high selectivity. Ideally,

membranes should exhibit high selectivity and high permeability. For most

membranes, however, as selectivity increases, permeability decreases, and vice

versa. In order to get the high selectivity membrane without reducing the

permeability of membrane, low cost polymer polyethersulfone membrane was sough

off.

4

1.3 Objective of Study

To study the polymer concentration in order to find out the best formulation

that gives the best performance of the membrane developed

1.4 Scope of Study

In order to meet the objective, there were some scopes which need to be

focused:

i) To develop polyethersulfone polymer as a membrane for gas separation.

ii) To fabricate polymer with coating agent.

iii) To study the permeability and selectivity of different gases (CO2, CH4)

CHAPTER 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 History of Membrane Based Separation

Membrane based separation processes over the last three decades have

proved their potential as better alternatives to traditional separation processes.

Although report concerning the permeability of synthetic membranes date back to the

mid 19th

century, membrane science and technology study started as early in 15th

century( Boretos,1973).

The gas separation early demonstration was using natural rubber membranes

date back to the 1830’s. gas separation using polymeric membranes has achieved

important commercial success in some industrial processes since the first commercial

scale membrane gas separation system was produced in the late 1970’s.in order to

extend its application and compete successfully wait traditional gas separation,

processes such as cryogenic, pressure swing adsorption and absorption and

researches made great attention in fabricating high separation performance in both

academia an industry ( Wang et al, 2002). Table 2.1 shows the milestone in the

development of membrane based separation.

6

Table 2.1: Milestone in the development of membrane based separation

Name of inventor Year Invention

Abbe Nollet

1748

Wine and water separated with animal skin by

reverse osmosis

J.K Mitchell

1831

First scientific observation related to gas separation

Thomas Graham

1850

Graham’s law of diffusion

J.S. Chiou and

D.R. Paul

1987

Prove for the two membranes as a function of

CO2 conditioning and driving pressure

Stern et al

1989

Development of nine types of polyimide

membranes.

Suzuki et al

1998

Fabricated dual-layer hollow fiber membranes

composed of a dense polyimide outer layer and a

sponge-like inner layer made of another polyimide.

I. Cabasso

1979

Development of polyethyleneimine/polysulfone

(PS) hollow fibers for RO.

Nitto Denko

1988

Develop first commercial vapor separation plants.

Li et al

2002

Conducted the first systematic study to investigate

the effects of spinning conditions on dual-layer

hollow fiber membranes and the causes of

interfacial\delimitation between the two layers

A significant advance on polymeric materials for gas separation has also been

made in the last 20 years (Koros et al 1988) , many high-permeability and high

permselectivity materials have been discovered and synthesized. However, these

high performance polymeric materials are often very expensive, while some of them

are brittle.

7

As a result, the fabrication of integrally skinned asymmetric membranes is

either no longer feasible or economically attractive because it is too costly to prepare

the entire membrane from the same material.

The modern era of gas separation membrane was introduced when polymeric

membrane became economically viable. H2- recovery was the first major application

of membrane gas separation technology followed by the CO2/CH4 separation and the

production of N2 from air (Pereira,1999).

Then the membrane based gas separation has grown into a US$150 million

per year business and substantial growth in the near future is likely. Several research

studies (Pereira, 1999: Di Luccio, 1994: Pinnau, 1994) have focused the membrane

formation in order to control the properties of the resulting membrane and optimize

the applications, compared to the other developing membrane process such as gas

separation and pervaporation (Souza et al, 1998).

2.2 Membrane Definition

Membrane is defined essentially as a barrier, which separates two phases and

restricts transport of various chemicals in a selective manner. A membrane can be

homogenous or heterogeneous, symmetric or asymmetric in structure, solid or liquid;

can carry a positive or negative charge or be neutral or bipolar. Transport through a

membrane can be affected by convection or by diffusion of individual molecules,

induced by an electric field or concentration, pressure or temperature gradient. The

membrane thickness may vary from as small as 10 microns to few hundred

micrometers (M. Takht Ravanchi et al (2009).

Membrane in the original word is known as ―membrane‖ in Latin which

mean as skin. Another definition of membrane can be defined as thin barrier that

permits selective mass transport or a phase that acts as a barrier to prevent the mass

8

movement, but allows or regulated passage of one or more species (Bhattacharya et

al., 2004).

2.3 Membrane Module

Large membrane areas are normally required in order to apply membranes on

a technical scale. A module was defined as the smallest unit into which the

membrane area packed. At certain flow rate and composition, a feed enters the

module. Both the feed composition and flow rate inside the module change as a

function of distance. This was due to the ability of membrane which able to transport

one component more readily than other. There are four major types of modules

normally used in membrane separation processes which are spiral wound, plate and

frame, tubular and hollow fiber.

2.3.1 Spiral Wound Module

Spiral wound module consist of two layers of membrane, placed onto a

permeate collector fabric. This membrane envelope is wrapped around a centrally

placed permeate drain (see picture below). This causes the packing density of the

membranes to be higher. The feed channel is placed at moderate height, to prevent

plugging of the membrane unit. Spiral membranes are only used for nanofiltration

and reverse osmosis (RO) applications (Lenntech, 2008)

9

Figure 2.1: Structure of spiral wound membrane module (Lenntech, 2008)

2.3.2 Tubular Module

Tubular membranes are not self-supporting membranes. They are located on

the inside of a tube, made of a special kind of material. This material is the

supporting layer for the membrane. Because the location of tubular membranes is

inside a tube, the flow in a tubular membrane is usually inside out. The main cause

for this is that the attachment of the membrane to the supporting layer is very weak.

Tubular membranes have a diameter of about 5 to 15 mm. Because of the size of the

membrane surface, plugging of tubular membranes is not likely to occur. A

drawback of tubular membranes is that the packing density is low, which results in

high prices per module.

10

Figure 2.2: Structure of tubular module ( Lenntech, 2008)

2.3.3 Hollow Fiber Module

Hollow fiber membranes are membranes with a diameter of below 0.1 µm.

consequentially, the chances of plugging of a hollow fiber membrane are very high.

The membranes can only be used for the treatment of water with a low suspended

solid content.

The packing density of a hollow fiber membrane is very high. Hollow fiber

membranes are nearly always used merely for nano filtration and reverse osmosis

(RO).

11

Figure 2.3: Structure of hollow fiber module (Wang et al., 1992)

2.3.4 Plate and Frame Module

Plate-and-frame modules were one of the earliest types of membrane system.

A plate-and-frame design (Stern et.,al, 1965) for early Union Carbide plants to

recovery helium from natural gas is shown in Figure 2.4. Membrane, feed spacers,

and product spacers are layered together between two end plates. The feed mixture is

forced across the surface of the membrane. A portion passes through the membrane,

enters the permeate channel, and makes its way to a central permeate collection

manifold.

12

Figure 2.4: Early plate-and-frame designs developed for the separation of helium

from natural gas. (Wang et al., 1992)

2.4 Membrane Structure

There are two types of membrane structure namely, symmetric and

asymmetric. The different between these two structures were the physical and

chemical properties.

2.4.1 Symmetric Membrane

A symmetric membrane was membrane that having the same chemical and

physical structure throughout the hole. There are two type of symmetric membrane:

porous and non-porous.

13

2.4.1.1 Porous Membrane

A porous membrane is a rigid, highly voided structure with randomly

distributed inter-connected pores. The separation of materials by porous membranes

is mainly a function of the permeate character and membrane properties like the

molecular size of the membrane polymer and pore size distribution.

Porous membrane for gas separation can exhibit very high levels of flux but

provide for lseparation and low selectivity ( Pandey, 2001).

2.4.1.2 Non-Porous Membrane

The nonporous layer meets the requirements of the ideal membrane, that is, it

is highly selective and also thin. The porous layer provides mechanical support and

allows the free flow of compounds that permeate through the nonporous layer.

Although asymmetric membranes are a vast improvement on homogenous

membranes, they do have one drawback. Because they are composed of only one

material, they are costly to make out of exotic, highly customized polymers, which

often can be produced only in small amounts.

2.4.2 Asymmetric Membrane

A membrane having different chemical and physical structures in direction of

thickness was called an asymmetric or anistropic membrane. This structure was

characterized by a non uniform structure an active top layer or skin supported by a

porous support or sub-layer. Three types of asymmetric membrane were porous,

porous with top layer and composites (Scott, 1998). Figure 2.5 show the asymmetric

membrane structure and Figure 2.6 show the typical type of membrane structure.

14

Figure 2.5: Asymmetric membrane structure

Figure 2.6: Typical types of membrane structure

15

2.5 Types of Membrane

2.5.1 Polymeric membranes

Generally, gas molecules transport through a polymeric membrane by a

solution diffusion mechanism. Other mechanisms include a molecular sieve effect

and Knudsen diffusion (Powell and Qiao, 2006).

These transport mechanisms are briefly introduced in inorganic membrane

section. The terms permeability and selectivity are used to describe the performance

of a gas separation membrane. There appears to be a trade-off between selectivity

and permeability. Gas molecules tend to move through free volumes–the gaps

between polymeric structures. Because of the movement of the polymer chains, a

channel between gaps can be formed allowing gas molecules to move from one gap

to another and thus gas molecules can effectively diffuse through the membrane

structure. Selective transport of gases can be achieved by use of a polymer which

forms channels of a certain size. Large channels will allow faster diffusion of gases

through a membrane at the cost of less selectivity.

Membranes are a low cost means of separating gases when high purity is not

vital. There are a number of issues associated with the capture of carbon dioxide

from flue gas which limit the use of membranes. The concentration of carbon dioxide

in flue gases is low, which means that large quantities of gases will need to be

processed. The high temperature of flue gases will rapidly destroy a membrane, so

the gases need to be cooled to below 100°C prior to membrane separation. The

membranes need to be chemically resistant to the harsh chemicals contained within

flue gases, or these chemicals need to be removed prior to the membrane separation.

16

Additionally, creating a pressure difference across the membrane will require

significant amounts of power. Polymers studied in various studies include:

polyacetylenes (Stern, 1994), polyaniline (Illing et al., 2001), poly (arylene ether)s

(Xu et al., 2002), polyarylates (Pixton and Paul, 1995), polycarbonates (Aguilar-

Vega and Paul, 1993), polyetherimides (Li and Freeman, 1997), poly (ethylene

oxide) (Lin and Freeman, 2004), polyimides (Stern et al., 1989), poly(phenylene

ether) (Aguilar-Vega and Paul, 1993), poly(pyrrolone)s (Zimmerman and Koros,

1999) and polysulfones (Aitken et al., 1992). Table 2.2 shows molecular structures

of some commonly used polymers. The performances of some polymeric membranes

are summarized in figure mainly separating post-combustion flue gas with CO2/N2

being the main components (Powell and Qiao, 2006).

Table 2.2 : Performance of polymeric membranes separating CO2/N2 (Powell and

Qiao, 2006)

Material Permeance

(m3/m

2.Pa.s)

Selectivity

Polyimide 7.35 43

Polydimethylphenylene oxide 2750 19

Polysulfone 450 31

Polyethersulfone 665 24.7

Poly (4 vinylpyridine

/polyetherimide)

52.5 20

Polyacrylonitrite with

(ethylene glycol)

91 27.9

Poly (amide-6-b-ethylene

oxide)

608 61

Materials for effective separation of gases can follow one of two overall

strategies: increasing the rate of diffusion of carbon dioxide through the polymeric

structure and increasing the solubility of carbon dioxide in the membrane. The

introduction of mixed-matrix membranes may allow superior performance which

combines the advantages of polymeric and inorganic membranes materials.(Koros

1998. Figure 2.7 show examples of polymer molecular structures used for

CO2separation (Powell and Qiao, 2006).